1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rear body structure of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a passenger car, there is generally provided a rear fender on a side of the body rearward of a rear pillar, and a suspension tower is connected to the rear fender at a distance from the rear pillar. (See, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 2(1990)-44578).
In such a rear body structure, a reinforcement is connected to an upper portion of the rear fender so as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body in order to increase the strength of the vehicle body around the trunk component. The reinforcement is generally connected to the suspension tower as well as to the rear fender and extends to the rear pillar, and the front end portion of the reinforcement is connected to the rear pillar.
When a vehicle having such a rear body structure collides at the rear, impact load acts on the suspension tower by way of the reinforcement to cause forward displacement of the suspension tower. Since the suspension tower has a downward hollow space for accommodating a suspension strut, the forward displacement of the suspension tower is larger at the top portion of the suspension tower. The displacement of the suspension tower causes a load which urges the rear pillar forward by way of the front end portion of the reinforcement and can cause a forward displacement of the rear pillar.
Further, there has been known a rear body structure for a vehicle in which left and right rear side frames are provided in the rear portion of the passenger compartment and rear wheel housings are provided above the rear side frames. (See, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 58(1983)-11546). A suspension tower is disposed at the middle of each rear wheel housing and the upper end of a rear suspension for supporting the rear wheel housed in the rear wheel housing is supported by the suspension tower. A quarter panel which forms a part of the passenger compartment is connected to a peripheral portion of the rear wheel housing, and a rear fender panel which forms the, outer wall of the vehicle body is disposed spaced outwardly from the quarter panel. The edge portion of the rear fender panel is connected to the quarter panel to form a closed cross section, thereby ensuring rigidity of the rear portion of the vehicle body.
At the portion around the rear fender panel, especially at the upper portion of the wheel arch portion, the cross-sectional area of the closed cross section structure defined by the quarter panel and the rear fender panel can be sufficiently large since the wheel arch portion is positioned closed to the upper edge of the rear fender panel. If the thickness of the rear fender panel and the quarter panel is increased at the portion in order to increase the rigidity, the weight of the vehicle body increases, which is not preferable.